A new crowdfunding site wants ‘bridge the funding gap’ faced by the eSports industry and help players and teams make a living.
While there are large prize pools to be won from the more prolific global tournaments, it can be tricky for smaller organisations and individuals like those in the UK to generate revenues.
It’s the reason some teams fold, as was the case with ManaLight last month.
UK-based site Supporterly has been set up to help eSports teams, players, streamers, casters and content creators make more money, either as a one-off or regular basis. Incidentally, it’s owned by ManaLight’s founder, David Bird.
Supporterly is a crowdfunding site similar to Kickstarter and Patreon, where organisations and individuals can offer different products and services to their customers, fans or supporters.
The site launched in March and has attracted the likes of Complexity Gaming, Splyce and UK eSports talent like exceL eSports, Seb “numlocked” Barton, WaspsGaming and others.
Individuals or companies can start a ‘hub’ on Supporterly (like this one from Splyce), which consists of a description, FAQs and comments from supporters. On the hub’s right side there are a list of incentives and rewards for supporting said hub.
Business development manager Louis Corps told eSports News UK: “I think it’s great for grassroots eSports teams like the ones within the UK who don’t have an amazing platform to let everyone know about their services.
“Our goal is to help people and companies by providing a platform for them to gain and develop their following, product or company via fan interaction and donations. Our service is very simple – we help people create free hubs that showcase their cause, be it content creation, eSports, game development etc.
“Here at Supporterly we want to help smaller companies and individuals grow. We do so by rotating our featured hubs on our websites front page based on the quality of the hubs and not just the size of the company and donations received.
“We also provide highlights such as hubs of the week and reward of the day on our social media platforms to help raise exposure for the developed and hardworking hubs.
“There is no company or individual that is too big or too small to create a hub. Everyone one is welcome and that is the beauty of our platform.”
To find out more or start a hub of your own, visit http://supporterly.com
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
